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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Eat and Live Healthy

Do you like to eat and hate to diet? Try today's Hot Casserole Squash recipe.

5 to 6 medium yellow squash

1 medium onion, chopped

8 ounces sour cream

1/4-1/2 can RO*TEL Tomatoes and Green Chilies, chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 stick melted margarine

1 5-ounce package cornbread stuffing

Boil squash until tender, drain and mash. Mix margarine and stuffing mix and reserve 3/4 for topping. Mix all ingredients and place in glass baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cornbread mix on top. Bake at 350 degrees or until golden brown.

From one who has to "watch" her weight for a lifetime, I've come to the conclusion that diets don't help. Eating healthy helps. Exercise helps. The key is moderation. Eat what you like, but also include the right healthy foods to give you balanced nutrition. For example, I love bread and sweets. According to Naturopathyworks, certain types of food assist with curbing or limiting cravings. Maybe you're not a sweet eater but would rather have salty foods. Eat more fish or unrefined sea salt. Or drink raw goat milk. Raw goat milk may be pushing it a bit too far for you. Have you ever tried raw milk? Two summers while my husband and daughter and I were full-time RV'ing, we stayed on a Wisconsin farm and were treated to refrigerated raw cow's milk. It was the best milk we have ever tasted. Drinking store-bought milk after that was terribly disappointing. You may find that refrigerated raw goat milk to be quite satisfying. You'll never know unless you try it.

Eat naturally, and stay away from diets. I heard a man say yesterday that he lost a lot of weight when he stopped drinking sodas. Once a lady told me she never has a weight problem anymore because she does not eat any processed foods because they contain sodium. She said staying away from sodium is the key to controlling your weight. You should certainly notice a difference by refraining from sodas, regular or diet, and eating foods from the produce section of your grocery store. I say don't diet; eat naturally, and get healthy. That doesn't mean you can't ever eat sweets or salty food. In my opinion if you go on a diet then back to the old way of eating, all you did was starve yourself temporarily.

All of us deal with cravings. There are days we feel fat, overweight, fluffy, or whichever term you like to call it. Sometimes when I'm feeling this way, I make a joke about it and laugh. Recently, I asked a friend if he and his wife are still going to Weight Watcher's. He replied that they do occasionally attend the maintenance meetings. I asked him, "Have you ever heard of Fit for Life?" I added, "Well, I think I'm going to start a fat-for-life program." We both laughed. After all, my dad told me once, "Honey, you'll have to watch your weight all of your life." It helps to be able to laugh at yourself in areas of struggle like this. You'll get through it, overcome it, and have better days if you'll keep on working at it. In the meantime, laugh at yourself. Make others laugh. Laughter is a good medicine. It's better than being in the mullygrubs, becoming depressed, and depressing everyone around you. After the conversation with my Weight Watcher's friend, I kept thinking about the Fat for Life program and actually started a website called fatfunforlife.com. It's a place for anyone to read who feels fat, though they may not be at all, or has been fat in the past, or may be fat. The purpose is to be able to laugh in spite of your struggle. There are no diets on the website, only good old-fashioned southern recipes, funny things, and more to come like healthy things to do to overcome the "fat" struggles. So laugh. That's also good for your health.

There are individuals who become addicted to food. I know a man who is and who must way over 500 pounds. He's been in the hospital for weeks due to his eating addiction that caused infection. A person with an addiction will lie to get their fix, even a person with a food addiction. If you are in this dilemma or know someone who is, get help or get help for that someone. See a physician and a nutritionist. This blog is written according to opinion and experience. Always seek your physician for food and diet advice.

4 comments:

I find the only way I can lose weight is limit myself to a small amount of healthy foods and keep a routine for 2 of my meals. I don't mind not having to make any decisions for 2 meals a day. Our bugaboo is eating out which us old folks do a lot...lol...Now I get a sweet potato and eat off Don's plate. I'm maintaining not gaining but not losing either.